Arrived in Hong Kong on the 10th Jan. It was the first time I had been back since Feb 2000. On my first visit, which was for work, I stayed in the Peninsular Hotel and had butler service.

This time I was on a slightly different budget and I stayed in the Apple Hostel. It was right next door to the Peninsular but not quiet the same quality.

It was a very narrow room. The compact ensuite (a luxury in a hostel) allowed me the option to sit on the toilet, brush my teeth and have a shower all at the same time (I didn’t try this). However it had a very comfortable bed and was bang on budget at £30 per night (The Peninsular is about £350 per night). It also had a M&S food shop directly opposite!

On the first evening I went down to the Kowloon board walk to watch “A Symphony of Lights” – the world’s largest, permanent sound and light show which is on every night at 8pm subject to Cyclone warnings.

Hong Kong is very easy to get around with a very efficient underground and bus service. However, where possible, I opted for the original star ferry and trams.

Hong has the most high rise buildings of any city in the world – twice as many as New York.

With the odd colonial leftover.

My favourite spots were further out. The Chi Lin Nunnery was built in the 1930s:

Next to the Nunnery are the Nan Lian Gardens – a public park built in the classical style on the Tang Dynasty (600-900AD):

There is a well known vegetarian restaurant hidden behind the waterfall in the Gardens:

and a very expensive tea house (£50 and up for a pot of tea – including tea ceremony). I opted for a cup of coffee in the Garden’s café.

I chose a rather cloudy day to go up Victoria Peak on the cable funicular.

 The views were a bit cloudy.

There are markets for everything you can think of. I visited the goldfish market, which sold a variety of different animals. Not quite sure why you want them.

also the Bird market

and a variety of other markets:

The flower market was gearing up for the Chinese New Year.

Unfortunately I had agreed to meet up with a work colleague on the only evening there was racing at Happy Valley but I drove past it a couple of times.

I went out to Lantau island to see the Tian Tan Buddha – the world’s biggest outdoor, seated Buddha – and the Po Lin Monastery. It is very commercial and all the cafes are vegan so I didn’t stay long.

My favourite trip out of the city was to Stanley on the southern side of Hong Kong island looking out over the South China Sea.

During my Hong Kong trip I took the high speed ferry to Macau and spent 3 days there – see separate post. I left Hong Kong on 21st January.